McFlip – World’s first reversible Micro USB – On test

Type C USB cables are a way off from being common and a very long way from being ubiquitous. But the idea, blazing USB 3 speeds with a plug that is reversible – sounds awesome. The McFlip takes you half-way there and, more importantly, it’s available now and uses the most common USB port on the planet…

The McFlip cable was a Indiegogo campaign that ended on 7th August this year. The plan was a USB cable that could transfer data and had a reversible plug on each end – micro USB one end, normal USB the other. I was hooked, sounded perfect, I signed up immediately and put the money down for one. Unfortunately the reversible full USB end proved too difficult to manufacture without an unacceptable level of factory rejects / ports that didn’t last and so the team decided to keep the end that goes into your laptop/ wallplug a normal USB and focus on the important bit, the micro USB end. And it arrived over the weekend!

The cable is made of a very durable, flexible yet kind-of-stiff material that feels reassuringly tough. It’s ‘super strong nylon braided’ and promises to be tangle free. The full USB end and the Micro USB end are gold-coated and of good build quality. I’m very happy to say that it works just as advertised. When inserted into a device it makes a firm click and does not feel loose or as if it may fall out. The speed of charge very much depends on the device you plug it in to and seem to comparable to any normal USB cable.

It cost me $15 for the initial campaign (about £9.50 on the day) which is a lot for a USB cable until you consider the extra utility it will provide. It will live in the bedroom normally, perfect for when I groggily and usually half-blindly need to plug in a device for some extra juice. It will also accompany me when I’m away from home and I need my gadgets to be as efficient and easy to charge as possible. If this sounds good (or indeed, if you have a better use case) feel free to visit the Winergear website where you can buy these little beauties in a couple of different colours. I just wonder how long it will be before I order another one or two as I’ve a ton of Micro USB gadgets and can’t see them all being replaced by Type C any time soon…